KOCHI: The officials in the Directorate General (DG) of Shipping are of the opinion that the increase in the number of vessels sailing close to the Kerala coast over the last a few years is the main reason behind the recurring ship-boat collisions in the region. The vessels now sail closer to the shore owing to the fear of pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean. On an average, 3,000 ships pass through the region daily. This trend started ever since the piracy attacks went up in the Indian Ocean. The vessels sail closer to the coast as the region comes under the close vigil of the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Coastal police. “The merchant ships, particularly, the European ships sail very close to the coast. Since a large number of fishing boats anchor in the region, there are high chances of accidents at 20-30 nautical miles off the coast. Around 8,000 fishing boats are usually present in the region. Five years ago, the number of shipping vessels in the outer sea was just half that of what we see today,” an official in the DG of Shipping said.The Arabian sea is the main shipping channel linking West Asian countries with China and South East Asia. Earlier ships used to navigate through a channel off the Lakshadweep shore but because of the fear of pirates, the ships now sail closer to the Kerala coast, the official said. At night the ships sail at 25 nautical miles off the coast and this increases the chances of accidents, he said.“Such incidents occur mainly because of the lack of proper vigilance by the watch keepers on the ship at night. If the watch keepers are not vigilant then such incidents will happen again. Besides, the captain should be vigilant so as to avoid any kind of accidents. The fishing boats also should be well aware of the situation and take care to avoid a collision,” said K Mohandas, former secretary, Union Ministry of Shipping.
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